Page 48 of Live Love Steal
That implied he was in trouble elsewhere. “Do you think the cops will…?”
His side-eye wasn’t reassuring. “Where was he all night?”
How should I answer that? “With me?”
“Say it like you mean it. Where was he all night?”
“With me.”
Bear nodded. “And, what were you doing?”
“Finding a part for my car.” That was a given, because that was the same story we’d told the cops.
“Buzzt. You were having sex.”
I cleared my throat. “No, we weren’t. I don’t know if you know this part or not, but we got pulled over about an hour …two hours ago on the way to Harrisburg. Which means we couldn’t have been having sex the entire time. But once we got the part, we came back here and had sex in the shower. Does that work?”
His fist hit the arm of the couch. “Sketch got pulled over?”
I nodded. “And let go with a warning.”
His forehead crinkled. “Why didn’t the cops ar—” He snapped his mouth shut, obviously in crisis mode.
“Because when Sketch fixed my steering column, he didn’t put my plates back on my car. You know, the one Whoosh took for the drop?”
Bear could swear creatively. And profusely.
Once he was settled, I added, “During the stop, I gave the cop my registration paperwork and my insurance card. I got it back, but it is probably in the system.”
His beard moved as he chewed on his words. “And Sketch?”
“Driver’s license.”
That earned a grimace.
“A warning, huh?”
I nodded.
“Okay. Where did you go for the part?”
“I have no clue. Some shop, I guess?”
For a moment, Bear was lost in thought. “Southeast side, across the river.”
“That’s a little close to where we were.”
“All the better. We don’t have to scrub the traffic cameras.” He stood up and walked to the entrance of the stairs and called someone. I overheard part of his conversation. “Hey, Grease, I’m calling in a marker.” There was a pause. Bear turned to me, “What part did he need?”
“Steering column cowl for a Kia.” I rattled off the specs for my car and added, “And new key lock cylinder. But that would be traceable, so I guess not that.”
Bear grunted. “Did you catch all that?”
What was I doing? I was covering up a murder, that’s what I was doing. Talk about a fall from grace. In less than two minutes, Bear had a full alibi set up for both of us.
Then he knocked on the door to be admitted to the room where Sketch was.
I wished I could be in there, not out here. With both Bear and Sketch holed up in discussion, my hands started to tremble again. I startled when Smoke came up the stairs.
